Year in Review: Meet the best rookie starter to debut in 2009. Oakland's big catch in the Dan Haren deal, Anderson shot from A-Ball to the Majors in short order, posting a K/BB ratio in excess of 5.00 along the way. The 6’4’’ lefty didn't skip a beat in the Majors with a 3.3 K/BB and the best FIP of any full-time A.L. West starter not named "King Felix." Anderson has all of the pitches, featuring plus fastball speed, a pair of nasty breaking balls, and a promising change-up. His velocity spiked as the season progressed: Anderson sat at 91-92 mph early in the year, with a low-80s slider. But by the All-Star break, he was firing 93-94 mph bullets with a wicked mid-80s slider. That hard breaking pitch was Anderson's best offering, saving 2.5 runs per 100 pitches compared to the MLB average. He also burned worms with a 51% ground-ball rate.

The Year Ahead: Anderson misses bats, rarely walks hitters and possesses strong ground-ball tendencies. That's the Holy Grail of pitching skills right there. There was nothing fluky about Anderson's rookie campaign. He has an exceptional minor league track record, as well as the glowing scouting reports to back up the numbers. The only thing that could prohibit Anderson from establishing himself as an upper-echelon starter is health. The former D-Backs prospect doesn't have an alarming injury history, but young starters shouldering heavy workloads are notoriously unpredictable. Anderson tossed 105 innings between High-A and Double-A in 2008, then threw 175.1 frames for the A's as a 21-year-old. Oakland was rather cautious with him, as Anderson averaged 94 pitches per start. But that's still an awfully large year-to-year increase. There's risk, but Anderson needs to rank prominently on draft lists entering 2010. (David Golebiewski)

Profile: Brett Anderson is talented -- of that there is no doubt -- but Anderson spent a total of 91 days on the disabled list last season with an injury to the tendon in his throwing elbow. That is cause for caution on how much you should spend to get him in a draft. Anderson is not a flamethrower but he has good control and keeps the ball on the ground. In addition to his talent in keeping freeloaders off the base paths, the offensive suppression of Oakland’s home park aides Anderson’s WHIP and ERA in staying low. The Oakland team appears well enough to get Anderson the wins he deserves and so he could be a great fantasy No. 2 if his elbow problems are behind him. That is one giant "if" however. Make sure your team is not ruined if his tendons turn out to be. (Matthew Carruth)

The Quick Opinion: A pitcher with recent elbow injuries? What could go wrong? Anderson has a lot of talent but staying on the field is the question for 2011.

Profile: All those slurves that Anderson threw may or may not have led to his Tommy John surgery, but for now that's immaterial. He's out, and he's out until July at the earliest. Since he started with such great control (2.36 walks per nine, career), maybe he'll have a head start on fellow TJ-returners in that category. Along with his plus ground-ball rate (57.5% last year), he should be fine even if he doesn't add more strikeouts to his oevre. It is sort of strange that Anderson hasn't struck out more than seven per nine over his career, but his swinging strike rates are also below average. Either way, if he can manage a ground-ball rate near 60% with strong control, he should be the pitcher everyone hoped Trevor Cahill would be. If you can stash Anderson on your disabled list for half a season, throw a late-round pick his way. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: Anderson hasn't quite shown the strikeout punch that was expected of him, but elite control and ground-ball ways make him a good pitcher. This year, you'll want to stash him if you have enough DL spots to wait for his mid-season return from TJ surgery -- or just remember his name for later.

Profile: Brett Anderson's contributions in 2013 are likely entirely dependent upon his elbow. It was in April of 2010 when he strained his flexor tendon of the elbow, limiting him to 19 starts and then in June of 2011, it was the ubiquitous Tommy John surgery. Anderson returned in 2012 a man possessed, winning four of his six starts and posting a 2.57 ERA (2.72 FIP), helping push his Athletics into the playoffs with a late-season surge. Anderson will be just 25 in February, and while he's probably not going to provide more than 150 strikeouts, his ground-ball-inducing ways and terrific control should keep you happy in the ERA and WHIP department. If he can stay off the trainer's table, Anderson could be a nice value pick for your rotation in 2013. He won't carry your staff, but he would be a nice little number three to compliment a couple higher strikeout arms. Expect double digit wins, an ERA in the mid threes and about 150 K's if he can give you 32 starts. (Michael Barr)

The Quick Opinion: If Brett Anderson can manage to stay on the field, he should be a pretty useful middle-of-the-rotation kind of fantasy starter. He was incredibly effective in his return from Tommy John surgery over six starts in 2012, and if he's full-steam-ahead for 2013, expect a competitive ERA and a decent source of wins, but definitely have other arms around to provide the strikeouts.

Profile: Brett Anderson was once a great prospect before his elbow was eaten by sliders. Now he's projected to be the fifth starter for the Rockies, which is about as terrible a fate as you'd wish on your enemies. That said, there's a non-zero chance he's effective for that team. Coming to the National League is a boost, and though curveballs aren't happy at Coors Field, there's no evidence sliders get hurt too bad. (To be fair, Anderson's breaking pitch is a bit of a slurve.) If the pitch works and his body holds up, Anderson could return to striking two batters out every three innings and putting up elite ground-ball rates. That, along with what used to be customary great control, would make him useful in all formats. It's just hard to project many innings for a guy that has put up fewer than 300 innings in the last four seasons combined. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: If he pitches like he did over the last three years, Anderson will put up fifty innings of fantasy-fringe production before hitting the DL to never return. But the two years before that were good enough for most fantasy leaguers to keep the name on file.

Profile: Brett Anderson has almost 500 career big-league innings and he owns a 3.73 ERA (3.51 FIP) and yet he found himself in search of a new team in 2015 in large part because his body has almost never been healthy for an entire season. Even in eight starts as a member of the Colorado Rockies, Anderson had a lot of success -- posting a 2.91 ERA (2.99 FIP), although his strikeout rate just barely cracked 16%. His repertoire remains mostly fastball/slider with an occasional curve, but his fastball is now south of 90 mph -- and based on his results as a reliever in 2013, it's entirely possible he finds himself in a Lefty One Out GuY role in 2015. It should be noted that Anderson will turn just 27 in February, so he's still a pretty young buck and his track record always seems to tantalize fantasy owners looking for lightning in a bottle. Now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Anderson appears to have an opportunity to start again, but given his health history, he's probably better left to someone else to worry about. (Michael Barr)

The Quick Opinion: Brett Anderson's body parts needing medical treatment throughout his career include his head, thumb, forearm, multiple fingers, neck, elbow, abdomen, ankle, foot, various locations of his back. He's been on the 60-day disabled list five times before his 27th birthday. He's the gold standard for injury proneness, and yet when he's been able to toe the rubber, he's typically had solid results. A flyer pick maybe, but don't lean on him, because you'll probably break him.

Profile: Brett Anderson threw 180 innings last year. How he fared in those innings couldn't possibly be as important as the fact that he threw that many innings. The last time Anderson topped 175 innings was back in 2009. From 2012-2014 he threw only 123 total innings. Staying on the mound again is Anderson's biggest hurdle. As for his performance on the mound, his 2015 work approximated his career numbers. He upped his already good ground ball rate, but his strikeout rate came in safely below his career average. For fantasy purposes, you might prefer he trades the extra ground balls back for some more whiffs. Anderson finished 81st in Rotographs' end of season rankings. With a few more strikeouts and another 175+ innings, maybe he's a top 70 starter. But with health and more strikeouts far from a certainty, a top 80 starter appears to be about his upside. Outside of deeper leagues, Anderson is a spot starter. (Brett Talley)

The Quick Opinion: Last year Anderson topped 175+ innings for the first time since 2009 and did this after throwing just 123 combined innings in the three years prior. Staying healthy is still probably his biggest obstacle to fantasy relevance. But when on the mound, he could stand to trade a few ground balls for whiffs for fantasy purposes. Absent that, he's just a spot starter in mixed leagues.